“I’m a bit depressed,” she sniffed, by way of an apology. “The wind has made me furious, it makes me angry. It is relentless.”

While Birmingham battened down the hatches, Davina pushed hard on pedals in a desperate bid to complete the 90 miles from Edale, Derbyshire, to the Bullring.

She had planned to reach Birmingham by 4.30pm – a tight schedule scuppered by the storms. When we caught up with the cold, drenched, emotional celeb, she was still 30 miles from Birmingham.

The finish line Davina craved was still over four hours away.

“Ironically,” she said, forcing a smile, “when they called it Davina – Beyond Breaking Point, I thought it was a bit dramatic, but it has been incredibly tough. Every day has had its challenges. Everything seems to have happened. It’s the wind. It means I’m cycling at 7mph, rather than 14.

“There have been times when I’ve thought, ‘have I bitten off more than I can chew?’. I didn’t think I could do it.

“But the people have been amazing. Today, a woman came out with a tenner and said, ‘take this’.

“That sets me off. It makes such a difference. There is a reason why I’m doing this.”

The reason is Sports Relief, a charity set to earn thousands from the brave stars blood, sweat and tears. Today BT will add considerably to the total by staging “Dial for Davina” Day, donating 1p to Sports Relief for every call made from a home phone line.